Welcome to the Growth phase overview!  If you are just tuning in now, we are following through each step of the product/company/industry lifecycle. We have just completed our series on the Introduction phase, and are ready to move on. 

 As a refresher, the phases are : Introduction, Growth, Maturity, and Decline. 

But first…A topically-irrelevant side note:

The blog is really starting to get some momentum.  Traffic is about doubling each month, more are more people are following our tweets, we’ve started to get the attention of some big players -  But we are still sucking wind in the comments. So I EMPLORE you in the humblest fashion I can muster, please do comment/critique/argue/flirt/ask questions/whatever.  Hell, confess your fantasies. It’s cool. I won’t judge. Your thoughts make us better, and your participation makes the community stronger.

 

Now that I have that out of my system:

We now begin our journey into the Growth phase of your business.  Congratulations, you are now a REAL business.  Somewhere Barry Manilow is singing “Somehow we made it through” just for you.  This is far-and-away my favorite time in a new business. Everything is going crazy, orders are screaming in that you can’t fulfill, you are realizing that you are in WAY over your head, and basically you feel like you couldn’t find your ass with both hands and a tour guide. I LOVE IT.

As exhilarating as it is, there are also a LOT of pitfalls during this phase.  This article is going to give a quick overview of some of the characteristics of this phase, what issues we will need to address, and then we will spend the next 4 or 5 articles diving into more details on each strategy.

 

Characteristics of the Growth Phase:

• Innovators and early adopters are now in, but we still need to get the word out to the mass market.
• Competition is entering the mix in a big way
• Demand now EXCEEDS Supply
• Because of increased demand and fast growth, systems and procedures are now a mess
• Branding and positions now becomes EXTREMELY important, both to help push us into maturity, and will be CRITICALLY important when you become Mature
• Cash is now flowing in, but you need to determine where it will be best used, and how much.

 

What we need to figure out:

• We need to find a way to start targeting and reaching the mass market
• We have to find a way to take the wind out of the sails of our new competitors, preferably before they get a foothold in the market
• We HAVE to find some way to fulfill demand…or everything else kinda becomes irrelevant
• Systems, process, and procedures need to be fixed, new ones put in place, and tightened BEFORE we get to maturity
• Branding and positioning need to be ramped up - Both to help us reach our Tipping Point, and to carry us into maturity where it will become one of the KEY factors in determining our success.

 

So that’s it in a nutshell.  The following articles in the growth series will be:

3a - Accelerating the Tipping Point

3b - Meeting Demand

3c - Declawing the competition

3d - Positioning and Branding

3e - Organizing the chaos 

The series on the Introduction phase took about 2 weeks to get through, so it’s reasonable to assume this one will take about the same.  Since I am posting other stuff to the blog in between these articles, I realize that some folks are getting a little lost in the mix.  I am working through that, but will probably end up with a new section of the blog just for this series.  In the meantime, the article titles can help you navigate.

Overview articles are big numbers, sub topics are little letters.

1- Lifecycle Overview

2 -Intro Overview (2.a.b.c.d Sub Topics)

3 - Growth Overview (3.a.b.c.d.e Subtopics)

4 - Maturity Overview (4.a.b.c.d Subtopics)

5 - Decline Overview (5.a.b.c.d Subtopics)

 

See…pretty easy hunh? Only a few years of algebra and a minor in Trig, and you will be all set.

Seriously, I’ll try to fix it.

 

Be cool. And  hope to see you back (and hear from you - hint hint) soon.

 

JJ